It pains me to say this but “Fear the Night” is by no means top tier when it comes to survival home invasion thrillers. I love Neil Labute, and I love Maggie Q, I think they’re both great. I also love me a good home invasion film or survival film. But “Fear the Night” feels like someone along the way watched 2011’s “You’re Next” and thought: I can do that! “Fear the Night” has all the obvious influences with none of the context or subversive behind it. The villains even attack with their faces covered and garner their own hunting weapons including a bow and arrow.
Eight women attend a bachelorette party at a remote farmhouse in the California hills. They are interrupted by the arrival of masked intruders who surround the place and begin shooting arrows at the home and the guests. One partygoer—Tess, a military veteran who is fighting her addictions and her difficulty at fitting in with other people—leads the women in making a stand against the attackers as they fight back in an effort to save themselves over the course of a single dark night.
What is “Fear the Night” supposed to be exploring when all is said and done? It tries to paint itself as just an exploitation throwback at first, but by the final scene tries hard to indicate something to the audience that I could never put my finger on. So is the movie a commentary on Maggie Q’s character’s PTSD from combat? Did they ever find that cache of money? Are we supposed to believe the women all came to an understanding and kept said money? And if so, why would they keep it if they all seemed fairly well off, financially? Was Maggie Q’s character merely just an unreliable narrator spouting off a story for us and the authorities to cover a heist?
It’s never indicated. Even worse, the movie simply ends where director Labute leads us in to what could be a huge revelation and we don’t get anything. To make things even more complicated, “Fear the Night” introduces a troublesome protagonist who we’re supposed to think of as a hero. She spends most of the movie getting people killed, can never seem to enact a proper getaway plan, and you can even reason that none of what happens could have happened without her. “Fear the Night” does garner some solid direction which is a no brainer considering Labute is a fine director. Plus Maggie Q and the respective cast are all very good, but “Fear the Night” is hobbled by such a derivative script and sub-plots that just go absolutely nowhere in the end.
In Theaters, on Demand and Digital on July 21st.